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The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray
Claws for Concern by Miranda James
A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette and Joell Jacob
Death by Vanilla Latte by Alex Erickson
Descender, Volume 4: Orbital Mechanics by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
Every Missing Piece by Melanie Conklin
The Future is Blue by Catherynne M. Valente
Giant Days Volume 13 by John Allison
The Grim Reader by Kate Carlisle
The House in Poplar Wood by K.E. Ormsbee
Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena
In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delany
In West Mills by De'Shawn Charles Winslow
Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe by Sarah Mlynowski
Lu by Jason Reynolds
A Match Made in Heaven by Trina Robbins and Xian Nu Studio
The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott
Nightschool: The Weirn Books Collector's Edition, Volume 1 by Svetlana Chmakova
No Grater Danger by Victoria Hamilton and Emily Woo Zeller
The Not So Boring Letters of Private Nobody by Matthew Landis
Once Upon an Eid edited by S.K. Ali
The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Power of Her Pen by Lesa Cline-Ransome and John Parra
Property of the Rebel Librarian by Allison Varnes
Roll with It by Jamie Sumner
Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru
Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright
This Is New York by Miroslav Sasek
Twelve Angry Librarians by Miranda James
Uzumaki by Junji Ito
Where the Watermelons Grow by Cindy Baldwin

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June 2020 Sources

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5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish



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Descender, Volume 4: Orbital Mechanics: 07/28/20

Descender, Volume 4: Orbital Mechanics

Descender, Volume 4: Orbital Mechanics by Jeff Lemire ends the brief and tenuous sibling relationship of Tims 21 and 22. After a brief chase through space, Tim 22 returns, carrying the body of 21, pretending to be 22.

This is the volume where everyone questions their relationships. Does Andy want his brother back or is he just out for revenge against another robot? Will Telsa reconcile with her father? Will she even survive?

Like volume 2, Orbital Mechanics is a liminal volume. It's a time of escape, a time of movement, a chase through space.

Chart showing the progression through the RNS of the four volumes

In terms of the road narrative spectrum, it's retrograde motion. With the familial ties to the Tims severed, the surviving Tim shows his true monstrous identity. He is a minotaur traveler (99) — made a monster by circumstances, now reveling in that status.

Tim's goal is home (66). Home here is the Machine Moon, but it could also be the planet where his ancient prototype was found. It could also be the code base he shares with the other Tims, the original robot, and the Harvesters.

As this is set in space, the route is offroad. It is as the title states, travel via "orbital mechanics" (66).

All together, Volume 6 is about a minotaur traveler heading home via an offroad route (996666).

Four stars

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